Lifetime Bringing ‘Trip to Bountiful’ to TV

Vanessa Williams, Cicely Tyson and Cuba Gooding Jr. in 'The Trip To Bountiful' at The Stephen Sondheim Theatre in New York City. (Photo Credit: Bruce Glikas)

“The Trip To Bountiful,” the hit Tony-winning Broadway play, is coming to TV thanks to Lifetime.

Slated to air next year, and currently in production in Atlanta, “The Trip to Bountiful” will reunite almost all of the original cast from the 2013 Broadway revival for the TV adaptation, including Cicely Tyson (who won a Tony for her leading role), and Vanessa Williams, who plays her daughter-in-law.

Blair Underwood will star as Tyson’s son, replacing Cuba Gooding, Jr. from the Broadway version, and Keke Palmer from VH1’s recent TLC biopic “CrazySexyCool” will also be joining the cast. Michael Wilson, who directed the play, has also returned to helm the Lifetime version.

This is a full circle moment for “The Trip to Bountiful” since it was originally written for TV back in 1953, before making its Broadway debut a year later. It was eventually turned into a 1985 film, which won Geraldine Page the Academy Award for Best Actress. The play returned to Broadway in April of 2013 and closed this past October.